Device for sorting grain

ABSTRACT

A sorting apparatus for grain having a sorting pan of rectangular or pentagonal plan configuration is provided. The sorting pan has a rough sorting surface and is mounted in an inclined position so as to have a higher side to which the material is supplied and a lower side from which the material sorted according to the difference in the specific gravity is discharged. In addition, said pan is reciprocated in an obliquely upward direction when seen in elevation.

United States Patent [191 Satake Apr. 30, 1974 DEVICE FOR SORTING GRAIN [76] Inventor: Toshihiko Satake, 2-3s, f Henson Nishihommachi, saijyo cho, Assistant Examiner-Gene A. Church Kamagun, Hiroshimwken, Japan Attorney, Agent, or Fzrm-Browdy and Neimark PP No.1 342,031 A sorting apparatus for grain having a sorting pan of References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ll/l93l Taylor 209/44] X rectangular or pentagonal plan configuration is provided. The sorting pan has a rough sorting surface and is mounted in an inclined position so as to have a higher side to which the material is supplied and a lower side from which the material sorted according to the difference in the specific gravity is discharged. In addition, said pan is reciprocated in an obliquely upward direction when seen in elevation.

10 Claims, 22 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 30 m4 sum 1 or 7 PATENTEDAPR so 1914 3.801.554 SHEET 7 0F 7 DEVICE FOR SORTING GRAIN This invention relates to a device for sorting cereals.

ing device for grain according to which the inclination of a sorting pan necessary for-the sorting operation can be adjusted automatically.

The present invention will now be described by referring to the accompany drawings. In the drawings:

- FIGS. 1 and 2 are the explanatory views showing the mode of sorting' operation in the conventional device;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the rough sorting surface according to this invention;

FIG. '4 is an explanatory view of the cording to this invention;

FIG.'5 is a front view of an embodiment of the sorting apparatus according to this invention;

FIG. 6 is a right-handside view.thereof shown in longitudinal cross-section;

sorting pan ac- FIGS. 7 and 8 show the sorting surface of the pan of the apparatus according to this invention;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a modified embodiment in which=thepan is cut in a direction transverse to the flow of rice;

FIG. I0 is a perspective view ofthe modified embodiment;

FIG. I] is a sectional view thereof, taken along the direction perpendicular to the flow of rice;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a still modified embodiment; I

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a still modified embodiment wherein the angle of lateral inclination a is automatically adjustable; i

FIG. 14 shows in perspectivethe substantial parts of the embodimentshown in FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory view of the sorting surfac according to a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the embodiment em,- ploying the sorting surface illustrated in FIG. 14;

FIG. l7.is a plan view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 18 is a plan view similar to FIG. 17 for a modified embodiment wherein pebbles may be sorted out of the grain mixture;

FIG. 19 is. an explanatory view for the flow of grains on the pan;

FIG. 20 is an explanatory view similar to FIG. 19 wherein the grain is supplied from a corner;

FIG. 21 'is-another explanatory view for the flow of grains on the pan; and i a FIG. 22 is an explanatory view similar to FIG. 21 wherein the deviation and guide means for the grain is provided. I

In FIGS. 1 and 2, showing a known device, A denotes a fiat substantially rectangular sorting pan mounted in a horizontal position and subjected to a violent reciprocating oscillation in a horizontal direction. The surface of this pan A has numerous projections B inclined in a predetermined direction and the grain or cereals, .placed on this pan A are pushed Iaterallyby the tip ends C of the projections B with each oscillation of the pan in thedirection shown by the letter W, so that they are gradually displaced rightwards in FIG. I. Supposing that, as shown in FIG. 2, a mixture of the hulled rice a and unhulled rice -b is placed in separate layers on this pan A and the pan is reciprocated in the direction shown bythe letter W, the.hulled ricea will push the unhulled rice b aside and sink first to the lower place, because the specific gravity of the hulled rice 'a is higher than that of the unhulled rice-b.Therefore, only the hulled rice a is pushed-laterally by the tip ends C of the projections B and, in accordance with the principle shown in FIG. 1, the hulled rice 0 will be collected on the right-hand side of the pan A. Theoretically, the unis collected towards the left-hand side, the'lower layer of theunhulled rice b thus collected will be directly contacted by the tip ends C of the projections B. This lower layer of the unhulled rice is gradually moved towards the right by its impact with the tip ends C of the projections B and proceed again into. the layer of the hulled rice a. Hence, the sorting operation of this kind will not result in the complete separation of the hulled rice even if the sorting operation is continued for a prolonged time. i

,The following solution provided by this invention will not only result in the complete separation of the hulled rice a from the unhulled rice b, but the prevention of the intrusion of the separated unhulled rice b into the layer of the hulled rice a. Moreover, the manufacture of the apparatus can be greatly facilitated.

This solution consists-in the fact that the projections B are made extremely small-sized and the pan A isreciprocated 'obliquely'vertically when seen in elevation. As shown in FIG. 3, the surface of the pan A is formed with small numerous projections B so as to present a rough surface, and the hulledand unhulled rice are moved relatively by thejresistance of fluid friction produced by these projections B. As the lateral displacement of the cereals is dampened by the abovementioned arrangement, it is necessary to reciprocate the pan in an oblique vertical direction when seen in elevation.'ln other-words, the pan A is reciprocated with a vigorous action between the solid-line position and the dotted-line position in FIG. 4. In this case, the mixture of the hulled rice a and the unhulled rice b is subjected to the impact accompanied to a reciprocating motion of the pan A, and the hulled rice, having a higher specific gravity than that of the unhulled rice, will push the latter aside and sink to the lower position until it contacts with the small projections B on the surface of the pan A. as the rice is subjected further to a reciprocating movement in the direction shown by the letter W, the hulled rice contacted by the projections'B' will be pushed r'ightwards and upwardly due to the resistance of fluid friction operating obliquely vertically when seen in elevation, and the hulled rice-a only will be collected towards the right-hand side m in FIG. 4. As already described with reference to FIG. 2, when the hulled rice a is collected towards the right-hand side, only the unhulled rice b will gather towards the left-hand side m and an intermediate layer m consisting of the unseparated rice will be obtained. With continued reciprocating motion in the direction W, the lowermost layer of the unhulled rice b at the left-hand side m will come into contact with the projections B and be subjected to a resistance of fluid friction. However, in this case, the lateral displacement of the unhulled rice b itself is not so severe that the latter will again proceed into the hulled rice layer a. Therefore, there is no fear of the separated rice being again intruded into the adjacent layer.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, an embodiment of this invention will be-described on the basis of the foregoing explanation. I

In FIGS. 5 and 6 showing the simplest embodiment of the invention, the sorting pan 1 is mounted in an inclined position with the angle 7, and provided with a supply hopper 2 above the elevated'side' H. The cereals will thus flowdownwardly and be discharged from right t'owards left The value of 'y is so selected that the rice will flow slowly and be discharged in several seconds of tens of seconds. The plan 1 is secured to a base 3 and mounted by the obliquely mounted pivot levers 4, 4 so that the pan 1 is subjected, together with the base, 3, to an oscillatory movement in a direction transverse to the flow of the cereals and at an angle with the horizonml. in FIG. 5, the angle B denotes an angle that the direction of the oscillatory movement of the pan 1 makes with the horizontal. As this angle [3 approaches a right angle, the resistance of fluid friction will be enhanced, and as the angle B approaches to a horizontal, such resistance will be reduced. It is essential that the direction of the oscillatory movement of the pan 1 is perpendicular or transverse to the flow direction of rice. If the oscillatory movement occurs in parallel with the flow direction, that is, in a right and left direction in FIG. 6, the apparatus will no longer be effective.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, the base 3 is carried-by the inclined rods 4, but this is merely a means for imparting a movement in an inclined direction W to the pan, asshown in FIG. 4, and the present invention is not limited to this particular arrangement. The surface of the pan 1 is as shown in FIG. 7, of a mesh-shape or a rough surface, as shown in FIG. 8. In the drawing, 5 denotes an eccentric. t

In the above construction, when the rice mixture is supplied into a hopper 2 so as to flow in layers' on the pan 1, and the eccentric 5 is rotated, the mixture will flow gradually in layers from the higher side H towards the lower side L and be subjected to a vigorous oscillating motion or impact in a direction which is transverse to the flow of rice and makes an angle with the horizontal, so that, as a first step, the hulled rice a will push the unhulled rice b aside and flow to a lower position by the difference in the specific gravity and frictional resistance. Since the pan 1 is oscillated along a line of movement inclined by the angle B with respect to the horizontal and in a right and left direction in FIG. 5 or perpendicular or transverse to the drawing paper in FIG. 6, and the surface of the pan 1 is rough, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the hulled rice in the lower layer is pushed rightwards in FIG. and flows down towards the lower side L as shown by the arrow E and is discharged from the hulled rice take-out or exit opening 8.

With the hulled rice 0 flowing down in the direction E, the unhulled rice b is deviated in the opposite direction, in accordance with the principle describ'edwith reference to FIG. 4, and discharged from an unhulled rice exit opening 9 as shown by the arrow E. The un separated rice flows through the intermediate section as shown by the arrow E is is discharged through an exit opening 10.

In FIG. 5, numeral 8 denotes a discharge channel for.

the hulled rice, 9 a take-out opening for the unhulled rice, and 10 a take-out opening for theunseparated sorting operation. FIG. 9 shows an improved embodiment.

Reference is first made to FIG. 4.

In FIG. 4, the portion shown by the arrow F is void and not occupied by the rice, due to the fact that the rice is pushed rightwards by the specific movement of the pan 1 and biasedtowards one side. The section F of the pan 1 is, so to speak, an idle section where the rice sorting operation is not carried out. If this useless section is eliminated so that the uniform sorting operation occurs on the overall surface of the pan 1, the sorting efficiency can be improved though to a limited extent.

Reference is now had to FIG. 9 in which the pan 1 as shown in FIG. 4 is arranged in an inclined position at an angle a. This angle a is termed an angle of lateral inclination. The side G of the pan in FIG. 5 is elevated relative to the side G by this lateral inclination. With this arrangement, when the pan A reciprocates in a direction shown by the arrow W, the lateral displacementv of the rice in the direction of G in FIG. 9 is reduced and the rice is also distributed in the direction G with resulting uniform distribution of the. rice on the sorting pan surface.

This improvement is realized in the device shown in FIG. 10 wherein the pan 1 is arranged so that the side H towards the back is higher in its position than the side L and the left side G is lower in its position than the right side G. The angle a of lateral inclination is preferably adjustable as shown in FIG. 11, In this figure, the right side G of the pan 1 is elevated and the angle a of lateral inclination is adjustable within a'range from a to a by means ofa turnbuckle 11 and the pan is made tiltable about pin 12.

FIG. 12 shows an improved device wherein the embodiments shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 are adapted to conform to the practical purpose.

The problem involved in the embodiments of FIGS. 10 and 11 is that the operator must perform various adjustment operations during the short time intervals at the start and close of the sorting operation. FIG. 12 shows an embodiment wherein the rice is supplied in a smaller quantity to the pan 1.

When the sorting operation is started, the quantity of rice supplied from a hopper 2 to the pan 1 is insufficient and both the hulled rice a and the unhulled rice b are biased towards the right side G. I

Even when the take-out openings 9, 8 and 10 for the unhulled rice, hulled rice and unseparated rice are provided, as shown in FIG. 12, the rice is discharged through the take-out opening 8 in its entirety due to the small quantity of the rice. It is therefore necessary to circulate the rice for resorting. It is therefore necessary to circulate the rice for resorting. In this view, a changeover valve 13 is provided on the discharge opening 8 for the hulled rice and an electromagnetic unit 14 operating by a timer T is annexed to the valve 13 so that the rice discharged through the discharge opening 8 for a short time after'the start of the sorting operation is fed back to the hopper 2 through a trough l5 and discharge trough 17 by means of a lift 16 and the material is circulated several times until the pan 1 is entirely covered by the rice. For this purpose, a limit switch 18 is provided to the hopper 2 1 More particularly, as the material is supplied in minor quantity at the outset, it is discharged in its entirety through the opening 8 as shown in FIG. 12. During this time interval, changeover valve 13 is leveled leftwards in FIG. 12 and the material is fed back to the hopper 2 through trough 15 by operation of the lift 16. Since the material is thus supplied continuously through the supply opening 19 of the lift 16, the material contained in the hopper as indicated by H is increased until the limit switch 18 is energized and a signal is transmitted therefrom to the timer T. Thus, after the lapse of certain time, a solenoid 14 is operated for reversing the valve 13. At this time, the material is heaped in a layer on the pan as shown in FIG. 10 and the material is completely sorted and automatically discharged through the respective take-out openings.

The lateral inclination angle a for the pan 1 has to be varied according to the property of the hulled and unhulled rice to be separated. Therefore, it is necessary that the turnbuckle 11 as shown in FIG. 11 can be manually orautomatically adjusted according to the property of the material. For instance, if the material has a larger frictional coefficient relative to the rough sorting surface as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the material tends to be shifted rightwards or to the right side G, if the angle a remains the same. Under this situation, the unhulled rice b shits towards the side G in FIG. 11, so that a certain quantity of unhulled rice is mixed in the hulled rice discharged through opening 8.

This can be prevented by turning the'turnbuckle ll occasionally for adjusting the angle a of the pan 1 by using an automatic device shown in FIG. 13.

In FIG. 13, inclined detection plates 20, 21 are mounted to the discharge openings 8 and 9 so as to be vertically movable by a balance rod 22 with the fulcrum point 23 as center, while microswitches 24, 25 are provided on the left and right sides of the balance rod 22 and a reversible motor. 26 is provided to the turnbuckle 11.

When the material tends to shift towards the side G depending on the property of the material, and the quantity of the hulled rice discharged through opening 8 is increased than normally, the impact of the material on the detecting plate is increased, so that the rod 22 rotates clockwise to operate the microswitch 24 and rotate the motor 26 in the normal direction so asto automatically increase the angle a. On the contrary, when the amount of the material discharged through opening 9 is larger than normally, the rod 22 rotates counterclockwise to operate microswitch 25 and to reverse the rotation of the motor 26 by the signal transmitted from the microswitch 25 so as to reduce the angle a. In this way, the angle of the lateral inclination of the pan 1 can be automatically adjusted'to the correct valve.

FIG. 14 shows the details of the embodiment shown in FIG. I3 wherein the turnbuckle II is provided with a gear 27 meshing with a gear 28 which in turn is mounted to the motor 26.

FIG. 15 shows a further improvement of this invention.

According to the principle of this invention described byreferring to-FIGS. 3 and 4, when the pan A presenting a rough sorting surface is reciprocated obliquely horizontally, the hulled rice a pushes the unhulled rice b aside and sinks to a lower stratum due to its higher specific gravity. In order to improve this operation, numerous holes 29 are preferably provided to the pan surface 1 through which an air current is supplied. The intensity of this air current is such that the dust produced during the sorting operation can be blown off and the hulled and unhulled rice a and b are floatingly heaped together so that the hulled rice a will readily shift below the layer ofthe unhulled rice b.

The embodiment of the invention based on the principle of FIG. 15 is shown in FIG. 16. In FIG. 16, the numeral 3l.denotes a cover made of rubber or air-proof cloth placed over the surface of the pan 1 entirely and having an air vent 29 that allows the air but does not allow the cereals to pass'therethrough. A suction pipe 30 is connected to the uppermost part of the cover 31. The suction pipe 30 may be provided at such a position which is comparatively adjacent above the sorting pan 1 and at the right side of cover 31 in FIG. 16, so that the flow of air may pass through a comparatively small room provided above the pan 1. Such current of air helps to motivate the grain towards the right side in said figure.

The above embodiment is based on a suction system, but it may be modified so that air is injected from the lower part of the cloth. The numeral 32 denotes bellows that connects .the supply hopper and the supply port 33 together. i

In FIG. 18, there is shown a sorting device of this invention which is modified so as to sort pebbles besides cereals.

In connection with FIG. 18, FIG. 17 shows the embodiment in a schematic plan view of FIG. 4.

Thus, the pan 1 reciprocates in the direction of W and the cereals are caused to flow downwards in FIG. 17. With X the supply point of the mixed rice, the hulled rice a proceeds in the direction of E due to its higher specific gravity, and the unhulled rice b proceeds in the direction of E due to its lesser specific gravity. The mixture of hulled and unhulled rice flows in the intermediate zone in the direction of E The hulled rice, the unhulled rice and the mixture thereof are taken out through their discharge openings 8, 9 and 10 respectively.

Assuming that the pebbles having larger specific gravity than the hulled rice are mixed in the mixture, they will naturally proceed along the line E towards the righthandside of the line E so that the pebble path 30 is formed on the extreme right-hand side of the pan 1 and the pebbles are removed for a discharge opening 31.

'A further consideration will be given below to the flow of rice on the pan 1 embodying the present invention.

In FIG. 19, is shown the flow of cereals schematically. The'rice supplied at X will flow down in a flared pattern from the supply side H towards the take-out side. FIG. 20 shows the flow of cereals in the same way as in FIG. 19 but the supply point X is displaced towards the left side.

As shown in this figure, the section shown by the shaded line is devoid of cereals and redundant, but the overall size of the pan may be reduced if the cereals are allowed to flow through this section, as shown in FIG. 21. FIG. 22 shows an embodiment of this typein which the guide means are provided so as to allow the cereals to be dispersed laterally.

With the above construction of the sorting apparatus of the present invention, the sorting apparatus provides many excellent results unattainable with known devices of this kind.

What is claimed is:

l. A sorting device for grain comprising a sorting plate having such a rough surface which produces a fluid friction between it and the grain, said plate being mounted in an inclined position so as to have a higher side provided with a supply opening and a lower side, whereby the grain supplied from the supply opening descends on the plate from said higher side to said lower side; mans to repeatedly motivate said plate transversely to the direction of flow of grain and at an angle with the horizontal and a plurality of take-out openings for the grain sortedaccording to the differential in the specific gravity, said sorting plate having a first side wall provided thereon in a direction substantially transverse to the movement of said plate, at the side thereof toward which said plate is swung in the upward movement thereof, said side wall providing abutment with the grain swung up by and on said plate.

2. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plate is laterally inclined so that the right or left side of the pan is elevated when seen from the downstream side.

3. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the angle of lateral inclination a is adjustable.

4. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a change-over valve is provided on the take-out opening for the grain of the highest specific gravity so that a recycling operation is performable by operation of this changeover valve.

5. A sorting apparatusasclaimed in claim 1, wherein a switch is provided in the take-out opening so as to be operable in response to the take-out volume so that said angle a is adjustable automatically.

6. A orting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate is perforated. I

7. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a take-out opening for pebbles is provided to the right side of the take-out opening for the grain of the highest specific gravity.

8. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein guiding means is provided at the higher side of the plate for laterally deviating the grain being supplied.

9. A sorting apparatus in accordance with claim 1 further including a second side perpendicular to said first side wall provided at the lower side of said plate toward which the grain flows and wherein said take-out openingsare at said second side.

10. A sorting apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said first side Wallis substantially perpendicular to the surface of said plate. 

1. A sorting device for grain comprising a sorting plate having such a rough surface which produces a fluid friction between it and the grain, said plate being mounted in an inclined position so as to have a higher side provided with a supply opening and a lower side, whereby the grain supplied from the supply opening descends on the plate from said higher side to said lower side; mans to repeatedly motivate said plate transversely to the direction of flow of grain and at an angle with the horizontal and a plurality of take-out openings for the grain sorted according to the differential in the specific gravity, said sorting plate having a first side wall provided thereon in a direction substantially transverse to the movement of said plate, at the side thereof toward which said plate is swung in the upward movement thereof, said side wall providing abutment with the grain swung up by and on said plate.
 2. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plate is laterally inclined so that the right or left side of the pan is elevated when seen from the downstream side.
 3. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the angle of lateral inclination Alpha is adjustable.
 4. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a change-over valve is provided on the take-out opening for the grain of the highest specific gravity so that a recycling operation is performable by operation of this changeover valve.
 5. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a switch is provided in the take-out opening so as to be operable in response to the take-out volume so that said angle Alpha is adjustable automatically.
 6. A orting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate is perforated.
 7. A sorting apparatus as claimed in cLaim 1, wherein a take-out opening for pebbles is provided to the right side of the take-out opening for the grain of the highest specific gravity.
 8. A sorting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein guiding means is provided at the higher side of the plate for laterally deviating the grain being supplied.
 9. A sorting apparatus in accordance with claim 1 further including a second side perpendicular to said first side wall provided at the lower side of said plate toward which the grain flows and wherein said take-out openings are at said second side.
 10. A sorting apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said first side wall is substantially perpendicular to the surface of said plate. 